Wednesday, November 28, 2012

The Digital Age and School Libraries

The Twenty First
Century

Reading has long been an extremely
important factor for both academic and career success. Reading opens the door
to information. Without this most important skill individuals are not equipped
to make sense of the unlimited fast paced information flow of today’s digital
age. The enigma today is that the amount of information available and the ways
to access it have drastically changed. Information professionals must consider
themselves educators who have the responsibility of instructing today’s
students in the twenty first century learning skills they will need to navigate
this information age. These essential skills are outlined by: The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, AASL’s Standards for the
21st-Century Learner, ISTE NETS, and Skills for the 21st
Century Learner, by Tony Wagner (among others). Each one of these entities refers
to the importance the ability to access or research information, information
fluency or literacy, and the ability to think critically. These skills, in
combination with collaboration, communication, and problem solving are the
essential twenty first century skills. Librarians, as information
professionals, must be proficient in these skills themselves and must help
students become proficient in them as well.

Librarians of Today
and Tomorrow

Now more than ever libraries and librarians
have evolved from being a place to simply check out books to an information
center. Today’s librarians hold master’s degrees in information science and are
not the stereotypical librarian. There is an immediate need for new twenty
first century librarians that will be an up to date version of the librarian of
days gone by. The qualifications for librarians have increased throughout the
years to reflect the need for expertise in a field of rapid growth. Librarians
must use their knowledge and expertise in both the areas of library and
information science to the benefit of their students. A librarian must be an
efficient resource for students in their endeavor to acquire and utilize information.
The World Wide Web puts information at a click of a mouse. For this reason,
librarians must be masters of information fluency. Librarians of today cannot
only be experts in printed texts but, they must be information and media
experts, teachers and instructional specialist, as well as, experts in finding
and evaluating information efficiently and quickly and be able to teach their students
to do so themselves. As stated by Lettis (2000) it is no longer sufficient for
librarians to be proficient at “gathering, collecting, and protecting data. . .
[but] . . .choosing, evaluating, organizing, [and] distributing information”
are now more important skills (p. 27). In order for libraries and
information professionals to make this needed transformation it is necessary to
shift paradigms completely in regard to the library’s physical make up and the services
offered.According to Bentheim (2010)
there are several factors to take into account: scheduling, the physical space,
the instructional model, and technology (p. 38). There must be flexibility in
both scheduling and the physical space and the instructional model and
technology must meet the needs of the twenty first century learner.There is now opportunity and need for
libraries to become an indispensable resource as students begin the journey as
digital natives. Very young children are capable of navigating new technologies
to explore and acquire knowledge. Librarians are challenged to help young
students hone these skills.

Information
Overload

The internet is a valuable yet daunting resource for students. There is
an over whelming amount of information available at a click of a mouse. Wagner describes the
conundrum of learning in today’s digital society as an “. . .active, dynamic,
nonlinear, discovery-based process – more like traveling along a spider web
than moving in a straight line from point A to point B” (p. 179-180). Students
are expected to be able to utilize this plethora of information at younger and
younger ages. For students to be successful in today’s society they need direct
instruction in skills that will enable them to find information, evaluate
sources, and make sense of the information. Students must be able to analyze
information effectively. The
twenty first century skill that facilitates online research and learning is
information fluency or according to Wagner (2008) “accessing and analyzing
information”. (p. 36). Students must be taught how to analyze the information
they find fluently. Regan (2008) describes the skills students need to succeed
in life as the ability to sift through the information available, collect and
analyze the information, think creatively about the information learned, and
communicate it intelligently (p. 12).Students
need purposeful guidance to acquire these skills.

Knowledge Application

Information access
and retrieval has changed and so has the assessment of students’ acquisition of
knowledge. Students today must be able to express what they have learned in
creative, innovative ways. As stated by Regan (2008), students must know how to
relay their knowledge in digital contexts. Multimedia web 2.0 tools are the new
norm for all students (p. 11). Librarians are therefore challenged with the
task of helping students develop these skills. One of many methods for internet
research is I-LEARN. According
to Neuman (2011) the I-LEARN method of research facilitates student’s ability
to “access, evaluate, and use” information (p. 1). The I-LEARN method includes:
Identify, Locate, Evaluate, Apply, Reflect, and Know. One of the key
points within the model is that the method does not have to be linear in
nature. Each stage with in the method can be visited as needed and repeated as
needed. Students must be responsible for their own research topics and
questions, as well as, finding and validating sources on their own. They must
also have opportunities to apply what they learn in “critical and creative
ways” (p. 10). This type of engagement will allow for profound learning and
success for students. Methods such as the I-LEARN are vital in school libraries
so that students can effectively analyze the information available to them. Primary
school teachers are masters at teaching students to read fluently. The
collaboration of teachers and librarians will ensure that students are fluent
in the access, retrieval, and synthesis of information from a variety of
sources.

Into
the Future

School librarians
of the future will have to evolve into information professionals with many different
roles. The role of campus instructional technologist would entail training both
students and teachers on: basic computer use and set up, computer care and trouble
shooting, software programs, and web 2.0 tools. The role of instructional coach
might include assisting teachers with analyzing and understanding the TEKS,
assisting with instructional lesson design, and training teaching staff on new
curriculum and instructional techniques. The role of information specialist could
be to assist teachers and students in finding resources and conducting research.
Future librarians’ job descriptions will
most likely include all of these roles combined with traditional library duties
of book circulation and weeding and ordering books. The library of the future will
become a center for both print and digital resources. There is a need for media
centers for laptop workspace, hardware resources, technological instruction, and
workspace for collaboration and research. The library and librarian of the
future will serve as a twenty first century resource for both teachers and
students. Through training and collaboration the librarian can have an integral
part in the instruction of twenty first century digital technologies as well as
twenty first century soft skills. All of this will take libraries and
information professionals into the digital age!